The Montreal police department filed a single petty cash expense claim of $524,937.50 in October, nearly doubling its petty cash expenditures for the year in one shot.

The entry, which gives no explanation of what the cash was to be used for, shows the payment was authorized Oct. 14 by a member of the police force whose rank is not known. It was on the same day that an assistant police chief authorized another $25,102 “petty cash” expense. Both entries turned up during the past two weeks in public city records.

The money in both cases is identified as having been taken from a police petty cash fund labelled “Petite Caisse Enquête VDM” (“City of Montreal investigation petty cash”).

The police department has refused to answer the Montreal Gazette’s questions about how half a million dollars in “petty cash” has been spent since last week.

Communications Commander Marie-Claude Dandenault, who is in charge of the Montreal police communications section, contacted La Presse to give the police department’s explanation about the expense.

Dandenault told the newspaper that the expense was exceptional but was handled according to rules.

The $524,937.50 expense adds to the more than $1 million in expenses the Montreal Gazette revealed three weeks ago were authorized by members of the police department from two “petty cash” funds that only began to appear in city records two years ago.

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The first of 105 expenditures from the “City of Montreal investigation petty cash” that were found in city records earlier this month was dated January 2015.

In all, the police department’s expenses from that petty cash fund since January 2015 tallied about $550,000 before the latest $524,937.50 and $25,102 claims.

The Montreal police have also authorized payments of about $280,000 since the fall of 2014 using a second “petty cash” label — “Petite Caisse SPVM” (“Petty cash Montreal police department”).

None of the entries labelled “petty cash” showed how the money was being used.

Different senior police department personnel authorized the expenditures, which were as low as $2,000.

It’s so the manager can pay for something rapidly with liquid cash. In investigations, there is often a need to act

The Montreal Gazette tried to get the police department’s explanation about the petty cash spending three weeks ago as well, before the $524,937.50 expense claim was filed. Again, the police did not respond before the article was published.

Afterward, Dandenault granted an interview in which she said the department’s “petty cash” expenses are indeed in cash.

“It’s so the manager can pay for something rapidly with liquid cash,” she said in an interview two weeks ago on how the department’s petty cash works. “In investigations, there is often a need to act (quickly).”

A payment for the same amount — $524,937.50 — was made one year ago, in September 2015, and that entry included the name of a car fleet management company and an explanation that the money was to pay for gas cards for the police department car fleet for 2015. It was not presented as a petty cash payment.)

Dario Ayala/Montreal Gazette

Petty cash expenditures are part of the police department’s budget and are not additional expenses, Dandenault said.

However, the police department refused to say how much is in its “petty cash,” and told the newspaper to file an access-to-information request.

The department has 107 units and police stations that have a petty cash fund, the smallest of which is $150, Dandenault said.

It’s the police department’s finance department that determines the petty cash of each unit each year, she said.

The petty cash of any police station is $400, while a few units – such as specialized operations organized crime and “support activities” in the operations division – range from $18,500 to $24,000.

It’s not prohibited to spend more than the petty cash limit for that unit, she said.

Any petty cash withdrawal must be signed by the person taking the money, the person responsible for the petty cash box within the unit and by a superior, Dandenault said. The form they fill out is required to include the detail of the expense, she said.

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However, when a petty cash expense is required for an investigation, the form containing the detail of the expenditure is locked up with the petty cash box and stays within the unit, Dandenault said. Another form, minus the detail, is entered in the city’s payment system.

These could include payments to sources, space rental, money to buy drugs or renting a vehicle in an undercover operation.

“If the expense is divulged, it could jeopardize an investigation that’s underway or it could jeopardize the safety of someone connected to the investigation,” Dandenault said. Such petty cash payments, lacking any detail, are labelled “special investigation,” she said.

The detailed expense form has to be kept within the unit and be available for internal audit at any time or spot audits by the Quebec public safety department, she said.

If the expense is divulged, it could jeopardize an investigation that’s underway

The last time the public safety department audited any of the petty cash funds at the Montreal police department was in March, when it audited the the department’s information division.

“Normally, we imagine a small amount for a unit. And that’s the case in police stations. But the finance department decides where the money goes. In investigation, we use this money when we can’t issue a bill for reasons of confidentiality and operational reasons.”

The entry for the $524,937.50 expense doesn’t say “special investigation.”

“We can’t make a bill with a supplier and a description of what it is because imagine if someone gets their hands on that bill and knows we need that type of vehicle, we could be providing elements of proof that could compromise the safety of our undercover investigators, our sources, our police officers, it could ruin our investigation. The petty cash is there for that.”

Prior to the latest expenses, the highest single amounts — $29,638 and $20,436 — that were taken from the “city of Montreal investigation petty cash” were authorized on May 5 and May 30 of this year by assistant Montreal police chief Mario Guérin, whom the Journal de Montréal reported was secretly recorded at a meeting with police department management staff in April of this year where he declared a crackdown on leaks to journalists from within the police force.

Guérin also authorized the $25,102 expense in October.

Dandenault said she spoke with a 28-year veteran investigator who told her the department has always used “petty cash” to pay for investigative expenses.

The Vancouver Police Department, for example, which has 1,716 employees, including 1,327 officers, as of 2013, said it spent $13,950 on petty cash in 2015.

“They are intended to be used for low value, incidental items of $100 or less,” a Vancouver police department spokesperson said. “As you know, we are a large department with many sections. Not all sections have a petty cash fund.”

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